rs2802292
FOXO3, one of the few replicated longevity variants
What this position does
Very few genetic variants have been linked to human lifespan and survived replication. FOXO3 is one of the two that have, alongside APOE, and it has been found in Japanese, German, Italian, American and Chinese cohorts independently.
What each result means
| If you carry | What it means |
|---|---|
| No copies of the effect version TT | You do not carry the longevity-associated version Neither copy carries the longevity-associated version. |
| One copy GT | One copy, a slight nudge towards reaching very old age Associated with a modestly raised chance of reaching very old age. |
| Two copies GG | Two copies, the strongest form of a genuinely small effect The strongest association, found repeatedly among people living past ninety and a hundred. |
Worth knowing. Replicated, but small. It shifts the odds of exceptional longevity a little. Smoking, weight and blood pressure move them vastly more.
How common each version is
| Ancestry group | G (the effect version) | |
|---|---|---|
| African | 82.9% | |
| American | 39.0% | |
| East Asian | 30.6% | |
| European | 43.3% | |
| South Asian | 56.1% |
1000 Genomes Project phase 3, via Ensembl, retrieved 2026-09-23. These groupings are coarse and flatten a great deal of internal diversity, particularly within Africa. A variant being common somewhere tells you where a piece of your ancestry probably comes from, and nothing else.
How many people carry each result
| Ancestry group | TT | GT | GG |
|---|---|---|---|
| African | 23 / 661 | 180 / 661 | 458 / 661 |
| European | 167 / 503 | 236 / 503 | 100 / 503 |
| East Asian | 243 / 504 | 214 / 504 | 47 / 504 |
| South Asian | 93 / 489 | 243 / 489 | 153 / 489 |
| American | 126 / 347 | 171 / 347 | 50 / 347 |
Counts of people, not modelled frequencies: every one of the 2,504 individuals sequenced by the 1000 Genomes Project phase 3, tallied by the genotype they carry. Deriving these from allele frequencies instead would assume random mating inside each group and undercount the homozygotes.
How to find out which you have
If you have taken a test with 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, Family Tree DNA, TellMeGen or Living DNA, this position is very likely already in the raw data file they gave you. You do not need another test.
One thing to watch if you look it up by hand: testing companies report some positions from one DNA strand and some from the other, and the file does not say which. Read the letters as they appear and you will get the opposite of the truth for some positions. Sequencings resolves that automatically.
Source
Willcox et al., FOXO3A genotype is strongly associated with human longevity, PNAS (2008)
Coordinates and allele pair verified against Ensembl GRCh37. Direction of effect verified against VEP protein consequences or 1000 Genomes population frequency. Category: Trait.
Common questions
What is rs2802292?
rs2802292 is a position in the FOXO3 gene on chromosome 6. Very few genetic variants have been linked to human lifespan and survived replication. FOXO3 is one of the two that have, alongside APOE, and it has been found in Japanese, German, Italian, American and Chinese cohorts independently.
What does it mean if I have GG at rs2802292?
Two copies, the strongest form of a genuinely small effect. The strongest association, found repeatedly among people living past ninety and a hundred.
What does it mean if I have TT at rs2802292?
You do not carry the longevity-associated version. Neither copy carries the longevity-associated version.
How do I find out my rs2802292 genotype?
If you have taken a home DNA test, this position is very likely in the raw data file you were given. Sequencings reads that file in your browser without uploading it, and resolves which DNA strand each position was reported from, which is the step most manual lookups get wrong.
This is reference information, not medical advice, and not a diagnosis. See the medical disclaimer. Category: Trait.